Six years separate Neal Curtis Zumberge and his older brother, Howard. But in the wake of accusations Neal Zumberge killed a New Brighton neighbor in a dispute Monday, the siblings may share a fatal link across decades.

Nearly 42 years ago -- Aug. 16, 1972 -- Howard Zumberge, armed with a gun, stuffed $1,800 in cash into a pillowcase at the First Federal Savings & Loan Association branch at Rosedale Center in Roseville, and ran.

Police swarmed the scene. Roseville officer Howard Johnson, 48, left his squad car, split from his partner and searched for Howard Zumberge on foot.

Soon after, other officers heard shots fired, saw Zumberge running and chased him down. As they arrested him, he told them: "I think I just shot one of your guys back there," according to the police account.

Johnson was found shot in the chest in the front yard of a home on Sextant Avenue. The 15-year veteran of the force and father of three was pronounced dead at the hospital -- the first Roseville police officer killed in the line of duty.

Howard Zumberge was 21. He's now 63, and could not be reached for this story. According to court records, his most recent address is in Lino Lakes.

The robbery and killing went to trial in federal court. Armed with a confession signed by Howard Zumberge the day of the shooting -- though the defendant's lawyer argued it was coerced -- prosecutors won convictions for two offenses.

At Howard Zumberge's sentencing, the judge asked him if he realized how serious his crimes were.

He got life in prison. Six years into his sentence, he and another inmate escaped from a federal penitentiary in Illinois and wound up in a shootout with police before they were recaptured.

In spite of the original sentence and time added for the escape, Howard Zumberge was released on parole in 1989 after 16 years behind bars, according to federal court documents.

He ran afoul of the law a handful of times after that, with a few drinking-and-driving offenses that put him back in prison in the 1990s.

More recently, he was convicted of disorderly conduct in Anoka County in 2007 and has had a few traffic violations on his record since then, according to court records.

Neal Zumberge, 57, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Todd Gordon Stevens, 46, his neighbor in New Brighton. Prosecutors say Neal Zumberge shot Stevens with a shotgun when a longtime feud between the two boiled over.